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Pulisic is about the top player USMNT can hope for. He's not blazingly fast, he has above average ball handling skills, he's the best finisher we currently have.

Weah and Reyna have potential to be better finishers but need more reps. Berhalter damn near left Weah off the squad...brilliant move. And has let Reyna sit on the bench.

Until top athletes start picking soccer over basketball, baseball and football, this is about the top quality we can expect from USMNT. Kids in the USA play soccer and want to score goals. If they aren't put in those positions in their youth they usually quit. In other countries they move to other positions....CB, FB, defensive mid. They are happy playing their roles and not scoring goals. That's why we have to settle for Zimmerman and Ream in central defense...and Holland has guys like Virgil van Dijk and Nathan Ake. A guy like van Dijk in the US would never see the pitch...he'd be playing TE or center field.

I shit on Berhalter but he has been good at recruiting and building talent from the youth system to the senior squad. But he is NOT a coach. He is a technical director at best. USMNT needs someone like Jesse Marsch to coach. But he's tasted the success and money at Leeds, no way he's leaving club for country willingly.

At least the US has some good, young talant. If they continue developing, and if there are some good kids coming up, then in four or eight years they could do some damage. Where it happens though is at the lower levels and youth levels, which is where the US sucks the most. They don't want to put money into youth programs like other countries have done. There are so many leagues and so many organizations, and there is no united vision in the US.

ESPN, a sketchy source on soccer at best, speculating if they don't bring Berhalter back or he "decides" to pursue European club soccer (Kiel has a better shot at starting in goal for Real Madrid), they will target two Colombians, former Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio or Orlando FC manager Óscar Pareja. They also mention Jesse Marsch...who ain't leaving the PL voluntarily. He is beloved at Leeds, and quite honestly a nice vehicle to get more Americans into the PL.

I am skeptical the small minded leadership will have the balls to hire a "non American" as manager. They could have had Tata Martino who is a phenomenal tactical upgrade to GB. Mexico "underperformed" but that goes well beyond coaching. Their youth development system is pathetic and the arrogance of their players is astounding. You get barely above average players like Chicharrito or Chucky Lozano who have been told they are at the same level as the worlds elite since they can kick a ball, and don't take to managing very well.

USA has done a really good job improving development system and I think we are seeing the fruits of it. Problem is, they have not developed scorers...they took it for granted. For all their failures this WC...they played defensively well enough to win every match...even Netherlands match until the wheels came off. But if they bury one or two of those great chances vs NED maybe it's a different situation.

@Chongo posted:

ESPN, a sketchy source on soccer at best, speculating if they don't bring Berhalter back or he "decides" to pursue European club soccer (Kiel has a better shot at starting in goal for Real Madrid), they will target two Colombians, former Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio or Orlando FC manager Óscar Pareja. They also mention Jesse Marsch...who ain't leaving the PL voluntarily. He is beloved at Leeds, and quite honestly a nice vehicle to get more Americans into the PL.

I am skeptical the small minded leadership will have the balls to hire a "non American" as manager. They could have had Tata Martino who is a phenomenal tactical upgrade to GB. Mexico "underperformed" but that goes well beyond coaching. Their youth development system is pathetic and the arrogance of their players is astounding. You get barely above average players like Chicharrito or Chucky Lozano who have been told they are at the same level as the worlds elite since they can kick a ball, and don't take to managing very well.

USA has done a really good job improving development system and I think we are seeing the fruits of it. Problem is, they have not developed scorers...they took it for granted. For all their failures this WC...they played defensively well enough to win every match...even Netherlands match until the wheels came off. But if they bury one or two of those great chances vs NED maybe it's a different situation.

Nice post, but I am giving the USMNT  no credit for their defending against Netherlands. All 3 goals given up were defensive snafus. Tyler Adams took a snooze on the first one and allowed a Dutch player to walz into the box unchallenged.

@Goalline posted:

Nice post, but I am giving the USMNT  no credit for their defending against Netherlands. All 3 goals given up were defensive snafus. Tyler Adams took a snooze on the first one and allowed a Dutch player to walz into the box unchallenged.

The defending pretty much all cycle was atrocious...Ream and Zimmerman...you could give them Mourinho as coach and they'd find a way to give up goals. They are just not good and if either are playing in 4 years, it will not be progress.

Looking back, Klinsmann's greatest flaw was relying too much on over-the-hill guys like Bradley, Jozy, Deuce, etc. He seemed to have blinders on with the young kids and wasn't willing to look beyond the kids with German mothers and American fathers in his youth dev strategy...Julian Green and John Brooks never developed into what the team needed. But he was a superior technical mind to Berhalter...

Interesting development...Reyna admits to half-assing it in training...but he was called out by Berhalter and the team captains, he stood in front of the team and owned it. Apologized, and that was supposedly the end of it.

Now Berhalter leaks it out.

For that piss-poor judgement alone, Berhalter should be gone. You don't air dirty laundry...especially once it's been handled internally.

Fuckstick.

@Chongo posted:

Interesting development...Reyna admits to half-assing it in training...but he was called out by Berhalter and the team captains, he stood in front of the team and owned it. Apologized, and that was supposedly the end of it.

Now Berhalter leaks it out.

For that piss-poor judgement alone, Berhalter should be gone. You don't air dirty laundry...especially once it's been handled internally.

Fuckstick.

Absolutely agree. To come out and tell the media Reyna was almost sent home was the move of an insecure manager who was looking for a scapegoat. Reyna's only 20; of course he has some growing up to do. You ask respected team guys to talk to him, as well as you meet with him, and lay out exactly what's expected. If he apologizes -- which Reyna did to the whole team -- you get over it. Done. Not playing him at all against Wales, the last seven minutes against England, zero vs Iran, and waiting until the second half and you're in an 0-2 hole against the Dutch is garbage. 

Reyna's talented; that goal for his club after the WC was a glimpse of what he can do. There have to be better options than Berhalter, who seems to have a pretty thin skin.

Claudio Reyna is available...Austin FC just demoted him...fucking idots. Dude is a tremendous evaluator of talent...he made them a contender from day one in MLS.

The whole situation with his son has likely made him an outcast.

US Soccer is a house divided...people are either Team Berhalter or Team Reyna and shit is getting tribal.

The next moves will be very telling to me to see if Cindy Cone was the right hire as the big cheese. I have zero read on if she's a Berhalter loyalist...if that dude keeps his job, we have our answer, and prepare for more mediocrity. The entire technical side of the house needs an enema. For all Berhalter's warts, and the Reyna dust-up aside, he has done a good job with youth development.

Although, Klinsmann deserves a ton of credit for that also...groundwork was laid before Jurgen was fired.

@Chongo posted:


The next moves will be very telling to me to see if Cindy Cone was the right hire as the big cheese. I have zero read on if she's a Berhalter loyalist...if that dude keeps his job, we have our answer, and prepare for more mediocrity. The entire technical side of the house needs an enema. For all Berhalter's warts, and the Reyna dust-up aside, he has done a good job with youth development.

Although, Klinsmann deserves a ton of credit for that also...groundwork was laid before Jurgen was fired.

Sorry, Chongo, I disagree that there has been a good job on the youth development side. Jurgen was starting to get it going, but when he was fired it became a free-for-all. There is no continuity or consistency in youth development. The MLS clubs have youth teams, but there's no "big picture." Everyone does their own thing with clubs doing one thing, academies doing another, a gazillion different leagues in US Youth Soccer as they try to get more kids under their umbrella (more $$$), etc. There's all these bits and pieces scattered here and there as everyone tries to grab a piece of the pie and draw in the dollars with no unifying goal. US Youth Soccer is one of the worst as they do not have a feeder system into the USMNT or USWNT. The vision is lacking.

This is the least talented of the US squads, and you could probably say the same for Mexico also who are in the same amount of turmoil.

As long as Leon Bailey shows up, Jamaica will have a chance vs anyone in CONCACAF in this tournament.

USMNT is a fucking mess...and it will continue to be a mess because the dumbfucks in charge, after months a of drama, have decided Berhalter was the best choice.

Over the next 3 years he will continue to think he's the smartest guy in the room and outthink himself along the way. There will be some decent performances, likely sandwiched with bad ones. USA made the WC after missing it in 2018...yay. It's fucking CONCACAF, not UEFA. USA and Mexico should be automatic every cycle with Canada, Costa Rica and Honduras fighting it out for the last spots.

Luckily for Berhalter, USA, Mexico and Canada are automatic qualifiers...no pressure from that perspective.

The whole Gio Reyna situation should have proven he's unfit for leadership. The way it was handled was junior high level. Yeah, Gio's parents are fucking twats...but by getting down in the white trash pig pen with them, Berhalter proved he was also a massive twat. He should have risen above that bullshit, but proved what a passive-aggressive child he is at the end of the day.

Fuck it, 2026 I'm going all-in on England...greatest collection of talent maybe ever, let's see how Southgate fucks them up this time.

This will get you ready to play the best...

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